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Soft skills are highly valued among employers today. That’s because they help a person to be more successful in business as well as in their personal lives. Moreover, in the 21^st century, such skills are frequently associated with professional experience. As such, they feature prominently in the resumes of savvy college graduates.

But still, what exactly are soft skills? More to the point, how can you master them? Let’s take a look at the top four soft skills you should have in your arsenal.

 

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Communication

Being able to communicate effectively is a must-have trait. It’s one of those soft skills that is well worth taking the time and effort to develop.

European Youth Portal is a website established by the European Union for youth development. In one of their articles, they argue that active listening and non-verbal communication are extremely important. Moreover, they state, an ability to convey your thoughts effectively as well as to give and receive feedback are critical, too. Above all, they say, being empathetic is key to being successful in life. That’s because these talents help you to establish satisfying relationships with your peers and maintain those relationships for years.

In order to polish these skills, it can be helpful for young people to participate in international youth exchanges and training. These events are available all over the world. Moreover, their organizers help with covering participants’ travel, accommodation, and boarding expenses.

Additionally, the range of topics discussed at such events is broad. For example, you can learn how to prevent bullying in Portugal. You can improve your meditation skills in Greece. Or you can join the Erasmus + program. The latter offers a possibility for students of all study areas to master their learning skills across Europe at minimal cost.

Leadership

It’s not always easy to distinguish a manager from a leader. However, think of it this way. “Managers do things right, and leaders do the right things,” says Peter Drucker, a pioneer in contemporary leadership studies. Indeed, leaders are those who think outside the box. They chart a growth path for their companies. But why are leaders so important?

True leaders have considerable influence over other people. The best of them inspire and motivate their employees to overcome difficulties and improve their performance. Leaders analyze the current condition of a company and adjust its business strategy for greater success.

How do you assess your leadership skills? It’s pretty easy to do. If you hold a managerial position, just ask yourself: “Would my employees follow me if I lost my formal position?” If the answer is “No,” then you should attend some leadership courses. Alternatively, you can try to improve your leadership skills by educating yourself online. For instance, at Ted Talks you can acquire useful knowledge about real-world leaders that you can apply to your own life.

 

Self-Management

Leading a group of people is impossible without knowing how to manage yourself first. Many students, for instance, lack the skills to manage their daily routines. They tend to procrastinate, wasting their time on useless activities or avoiding doing important things.

In order to learn how to manage your time effectively, try using the Pomodoro technique. Try breaking tasks down into short intervals, as this technique suggests. Then give yourself a break after each work session. You’ll find you can accomplish more in a day by tackling your work in this way.

Moreover, you will also be able to polish your skills. You will learn to distinguish important tasks from less important ones. Best of all, you’ll begin to notice the differences between the kinds of tasks you enjoy and those you don’t. For example, if writing is not your favorite activity, try asking a specialized agency such as https://buy-cheapessay.com/ to help you with some of those assignments.

 

Critical Thinking

Of all of the soft skills, critical thinking may be the most important. Moreover, this skill is important on both personal and professional levels.

Thinking critically means evaluating a topic with an unbiased and independent point of view. It requires a person to think logically and trust only dependable sources of information. Someone who can think critically has learned to analyze and organize information.

Critical thinking will empower you to investigate any environment you find yourself in. What’s more, it is a skill that can catapult you into a successful life.

In order to develop your ability to think critically, it can help to attend special seminars on analytical approaches. Usually, such events are organized by universities or independent lecturers. However, you can easily find them on the Internet as well.

 

Develop Your Soft Skills for a Lifetime of Success

If you want to be happy, healthy, and wise throughout your life, you would do well to devote time and effort to developing the soft skills described in this post.

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For as long as businesses have been around, they have been looking to promote themselves. When it comes to promoting your business, moreover, you need to be aware of the latest developments in this area. If you’re not, other businesses could already be a few steps ahead of you. To that end, we discuss here the latest Instagram features for promoting your business on that platform.

 

 

Promoting Your Business in the 21st Century

As you no doubt already know, much of your business these days can now be done online. In fact, many businesses have been advertising online since the Internet went mainstream. What’s more, many have come up with innovative ways to get their names out before the public.

 

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Of course, the Internet itself has changed greatly over time. While simple ads were once enough, the rise of social media has brought a new era of sophistication to online promotion. That’s because social media, in particular, offers a more direct link between businesses and the people who purchase their goods and services.

Moreover, social media also offers businesses more control over their promotional tactics. This means they can be more creative with the content of the ads they produce. Contrast this with the old way of producing only one set of ads, then counting on those ads to do all the work until the time came to freshen things up again.

 

Instagram as the Platform of Choice for Businesses

There are plenty of social networks out there. And each of them offers something slightly different from all the others. However, there is one social network that is grabbing all the headlines now, and that’s Instagram.

Instagram stands out from other social media. That’s because users focus on presenting photos along with short messages for other Instagram users to see. This represents a big difference from its nearest rivals, Facebook and Twitter, where the focus is mostly on text.

Additionally, Instagram has a more user-friendly layout than other social media platforms. This makes Instagram easier for users to navigate.

There are also several Instagram features that have proven to be greatly successful for the site. Instagram Stories is one such feature. In it, users can add different forms of content to create a story. Moreover, the story remains online for only 24 hours. This creates a sense of urgency among Instagram users who fear they might miss out on something.

 

The Benefits of an Instagram Business Account

Instagram also offers its users the chance to upgrade to a business account. These accounts offer businesses the chance to do more with their Instagram account by making the most of additional Instagram features.

These features include adding direct contact links for your business to your profile. This feature makes it easier for your customers and potential customers to get in touch with you.

Another benefit of an Instagram Business account is access to analytics. These analytics will give you more detailed information about the Instagram users who are interacting with your account. This information will allow you to better prepare your posts and content. That’s because you will know what you need to work on and who you need to focus on.

Instagram Business also gives you the opportunity to work with Instagram Ads. This will increase the promotional aspect of your profile even further.

 

Promoting Your Business with The Latest Instagram Features

The key to helping your business raise its profile by way of these Instagram features is to attract more attention from other Instagram users. This will increase your profile’s popularity and make it more visible.

Engagement is key in the world of Instagram. This refers to the likes and comments your posts get from other Instagram users. It also refers to the number of followers you have. This is a particularly important number. That’s because the more followers you have, the more likes and comments you can count on.

There are numerous ways to achieve the level of interaction that will boost your business. For one thing, you could pay for it. Websites such as insta4likes offer Instagram users the opportunity to purchase a set amount of Instagram features. For example, you could purchase a certain number of likes, comments, and followers. Then real Instagram users will carry out these interactions under your instructions. In this way you have more control over the interactions, and you can put them to use more effectively.

 

More Ideas

Other ways of attracting attention for your profile include using hashtags that are related to your content. This method will attract people who have an interest in the area. Use several hashtags for each post in order to cast a wider net. However, make sure the hashtags you’re using are relevant to what your business offers. You can also add locations to your posts. This alerts people who are connecting to Instagram in your area about your posts. This is especially useful if your business has a physical location.

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As vaping has become a popular alternative to smoking, more and more people have taken up the habit. This means that some employees may wish to vape during their work hours. However, as a business owner, you must consider a few issues that can result from workplace vaping.

Vaping is a relatively new form of nicotine intake. As such, it can be difficult to understand which aspects to consider. It may even be difficult to understand what vaping actually is. Moreover, you might not even know about the companies that provide this nicotine alternative, though Pure E-Liquids is one example.

However, in the UK, Public Health England—also known as PHE—has created a simple framework for advising organizations about workplace vaping. We offer here the principles from PHE. Whether your business is in the UK or elsewhere, they may help you with developing vaping policies for your workplace.

 

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5 Principles for Business Owners to Follow

PHE has suggested that there are five principles that business owners should consider when trying to understand workplace vaping:

1. Business owners must make a very clear distinction between vaping and smoking. For example, they must make clear that the policies on their current employees who smoke and those who vape are different. That’s because of the health differences between the two practices.
2. PHE has also advised that business owners make sure that their policies on vaping are informed by the possibility of risk that vaping might pose to bystanders. However, as vaping is relatively new, these vaping-near-bystanders policies may be different, depending on the employer as well as what the business does.

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3. Much like with the point above, PHE also suggests that business owners have a responsibility not only to identify, but also to manage the risks of vaping around children and young people. However, again, this is dependent on what your business entails as well as who you employ.
4. Vaping is mostly considered a healthier way of taking in nicotine. Therefore, it supports your employees in quitting smoking and staying smoke-free. This is also one of PHE’s principles of vaping in the workplace. This comes as a direct result of the UK government’s Five Year Tobacco Control plan for England.
5. PHE also suggests that business owners must support compliance with the new smoke-free law and policies. These were created for the safety and well-being of the public. This principle, too, has resulted from the government’s Five Year Tobacco Control plan. This intends to implement policies aimed at promoting employers to try to encourage their employees to give up smoking, not only in the workplace but also altogether.

 

What Else Should You Keep in Mind About Workplace Vaping?

The five points detailed here are just a few of the considerations you can take into account as part of your policies on workplace vaping.

Keep in mind that the elements of your workplace vaping policies will depend on what your business is as well as who you employ. However, vaping in the workplace is likely to become more popular as time progresses. Therefore, you must carefully consider each aspect of your new policies on workplace vaping.

Online selling is currently a trend that you may want to catch up on. Numerous sellers and retailers who began early are now reaping the benefits of online selling.

Nowadays, it’s no longer enough to be on eBay or Etsy to have a successful online shop. There is a plethora of stores on these mainstream websites. Therefore, it can be challenging for customers to find your product. The trick is to locate other online selling platforms that can provide your product great exposure.

Here are five tips for becoming successful with online selling.

 

1. Focus on a Specific Product

As an online seller, you need to be clear on what product category you’re going into. Then focus just on that. Refrain from having too many different and unrelated products in your shop. This will only confuse your customers. Instead, create your online shop so that it has a uniform theme and feel.

On the Internet, there is a vast array of products and shops for consumers to choose from. To fare well in the ecommerce industry, you need to be selling something that is unique. In other words, you need a product that stands out from the competition. This could be in terms of price, product features, or promotion.

For instance, if you want to champion in price, you can provide a high-quality product without charging an arm and a leg for it. For product features, you can add a few features to your product to make it more interesting. Promotion and marketing play a significant role in making sure your product flies. To learn more about how to improve your marketing strategy, head to journal-reviews for some pro tips.

 

2. Start Affiliate Ecommerce Marketing

Affiliate e-commerce marketing is a partnership between an established e-commerce platform and an online shop. In this arrangement, the e-commerce platform helps the start-up online shop by promoting its products to customers. In exchange, the affiliate gets a percentage of sales generated from the platform. With this option, you don’t need to make any upfront payment. That’s because affiliates are paid via commissions. This makes it really convenient for the seller.

However, you need to find an affiliate network that goes well with your product genre or niche. Moreover, you have to find an affiliate who has an audience that is made up of your potential customers. Affiliate networks also provide you with a tracking system. This makes it easier to track how much sales are generated from which marketing tactics.

 

RELATED ARTICLE: 5 TIPS FOR CHOOSING THE RIGHT AFFILIATE PROGRAM TO WORK WITH

 

3. Make It Convenient for Your Buyer

Service plays a significant role in influencing a buyer following. Because you don’t have a physical store, your online store’s service needs to be excellent. Only in this way will you attract a high customer following.

In other words, the easier it is for your buyers to navigate and make a purchase, the more sales you’ll get. Online buyers prefer to deal with online sellers who are legitimate, fun to shop with, and easy to transact with. Here are some ways to make the life of buyers a whole lot easier:

• Offer free delivery for a minimum purchase.
• Automate the delivery process so users can track the shipment.
• Provide different payment options such as cash on delivery, PayPal, credit card, and others.
• Allow same-day delivery in select cities.
• Have a user-friendly interface on your e-commerce shop.
• Make a simple check-out process. Keep the buying process short with as few steps as possible.
• Excel in customer service.
• Provide easy navigation in your online store.

 

4. Maintain Good Communication and Fast Responses

Establish good communication with your customers. That is, ensure quick and efficient responses to online messages. And address all buyers’ concerns as quickly as you can.

Word about poor communication in your store can spread quickly on the Internet. Moreover, this can affect your online selling business. Therefore, strive to provide the best possible service. In this way, you’ll get good feedback and reviews in your online store. Consequently, you will increase your credibility among your customers. This can only lead to more online selling.

 

5. Provide an Engaging Website Design

Lastly, provide an aesthetically engaging website design. When your customers visit your website, especially for the first time, you need to captivate and capture their interest immediately. Additionally, visual appearance is also a very important factor that buyers consider in judging whether or not your store is legitimate or if they should make a purchase.

 

Follow These Tips to Achieve Success with Online Selling

To become successful with online selling, you need to have good e-commerce affiliates and provide high-quality products, competitive pricing, and exceptional customer service. Whether your store is online or a brick-and-mortar one, following these tips will guide you to have a successful business. It might take a lot of time, work, and investment, but it will all be worth it in the end.

Online selling is currently a trend that you may want to catch up on. Numerous sellers and retailers who began early are now reaping the benefits of online selling.

Nowadays, it’s no longer enough to be on eBay or Etsy to have a successful online shop. There is a plethora of stores on these mainstream websites. Therefore, it can be challenging for customers to find your product. The trick is to locate other online selling platforms that can provide your product great exposure.

Here are five tips for becoming successful with online selling.

 

1. Focus on a Specific Product

As an online seller, you need to be clear on what product category you’re going into. Then focus just on that. Refrain from having too many different and unrelated products in your shop. This will only confuse your customers. Instead, create your online shop so that it has a uniform theme and feel.

On the Internet, there is a vast array of products and shops for consumers to choose from. To fare well in the ecommerce industry, you need to be selling something that is unique. In other words, you need a product that stands out from the competition. This could be in terms of price, product features, or promotion.

For instance, if you want to champion in price, you can provide a high-quality product without charging an arm and a leg for it. For product features, you can add a few features to your product to make it more interesting. Promotion and marketing play a significant role in making sure your product flies. To learn more about how to improve your marketing strategy, head to journal-reviews for some pro tips.

 

2. Start Affiliate Ecommerce Marketing

Affiliate e-commerce marketing is a partnership between an established e-commerce platform and an online shop. In this arrangement, the e-commerce platform helps the start-up online shop by promoting its products to customers. In exchange, the affiliate gets a percentage of sales generated from the platform. With this option, you don’t need to make any upfront payment. That’s because affiliates are paid via commissions. This makes it really convenient for the seller.

However, you need to find an affiliate network that goes well with your product genre or niche. Moreover, you have to find an affiliate who has an audience that is made up of your potential customers. Affiliate networks also provide you with a tracking system. This makes it easier to track how much sales are generated from which marketing tactics.

 

RELATED ARTICLE: 5 TIPS FOR CHOOSING THE RIGHT AFFILIATE PROGRAM TO WORK WITH

 

3. Make It Convenient for Your Buyer

Service plays a significant role in influencing a buyer following. Because you don’t have a physical store, your online store’s service needs to be excellent. Only in this way will you attract a high customer following.

In other words, the easier it is for your buyers to navigate and make a purchase, the more sales you’ll get. Online buyers prefer to deal with online sellers who are legitimate, fun to shop with, and easy to transact with. Here are some ways to make the life of buyers a whole lot easier:

• Offer free delivery for a minimum purchase.
• Automate the delivery process so users can track the shipment.
• Provide different payment options such as cash on delivery, PayPal, credit card, and others.
• Allow same-day delivery in select cities.
• Have a user-friendly interface on your e-commerce shop.
• Make a simple check-out process. Keep the buying process short with as few steps as possible.
• Excel in customer service.
• Provide easy navigation in your online store.

 

4. Maintain Good Communication and Fast Responses

Establish good communication with your customers. That is, ensure quick and efficient responses to online messages. And address all buyers’ concerns as quickly as you can.

Word about poor communication in your store can spread quickly on the Internet. Moreover, this can affect your online selling business. Therefore, strive to provide the best possible service. In this way, you’ll get good feedback and reviews in your online store. Consequently, you will increase your credibility among your customers. This can only lead to more online selling.

 

5. Provide an Engaging Website Design

Lastly, provide an aesthetically engaging website design. When your customers visit your website, especially for the first time, you need to captivate and capture their interest immediately. Additionally, visual appearance is also a very important factor that buyers consider in judging whether or not your store is legitimate or if they should make a purchase.

 

Follow These Tips to Achieve Success with Online Selling

To become successful with online selling, you need to have good e-commerce affiliates and provide high-quality products, competitive pricing, and exceptional customer service. Whether your store is online or a brick-and-mortar one, following these tips will guide you to have a successful business. It might take a lot of time, work, and investment, but it will all be worth it in the end.

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There are unhappy events that happen in life and in your business that you simply can’t plan for. Because of this reason, having a specially dedicated emergency fund is always wise. However, it is often hard to plan for that kind of saving.

 

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How can you pay for an emergency if you haven’t done the necessary saving and planning? Luckily, there are a few options at your disposal. The following suggestions could help if you should come across an expensive personal, business, or family emergency in the future.

 

Use a Credit Card

One option at your disposal is to depend on your credit. That is, you could use a credit card to pay for the emergency.

The positive aspect of using a credit card is that the credit is already readily available to you. Moreover, you can pay for whatever you need quickly. However, this is only true if you have enough credit available to pay for your emergency.

The one thing to keep in mind, though, is that using credit cards to pay for emergencies can be risky. First, you run the risking of maxing out your cards. That means that you will use all the credit available to you on a given card. This will affect your ability to use your credit card going forward. Moreover, it will affect your credit score.

So before you reach for the plastic, do a little soul-searching. Is what you’re facing a true emergency? In other words, is someone’s life or health at stake? If so, go ahead and use that card.

If, on the other hand, what you’re facing is merely an uncomfortable situation, but not an emergency, perhaps it would be better to stop and think things through. After all, you certainly don’t want to get in over your head with credit card debt if you don’t have to. That can get really expensive really fast.

 

Take out a Personal Loan

Personal loans are unsecured loans that are available to those who enjoy a good credit score based on a history of responsible borrowing. With excellent credit, you can get a low-interest personal loan to pay for your emergency.

However, while a personal loan can be a relatively less expensive form of borrowing, you are still taking on debt. And debt can be a burden on your other finances going forward. If you truly need it, however, and you can qualify for a personal loan, this is definitely a viable option.

Just make sure that you understand the terms of the loan. If you’re financially responsible, a personal loan can be a great option in an emergency.

 

Borrow from Family or Friends

One option that might be available to you is to ask your family or close friends to lend you the money in your time of need. This can be embarrassing to consider. However, if you are truly in need, this might be your best option.

One major benefit is that friends and family are less likely to charge interest on the money they lend you. A clear downside of borrowing from relatives or friends, however, is that it can put a serious strain on your relationship, especially if you have trouble repaying the loan. On top of that, if the person you borrow from should ever need money themselves down the road, you might not be able to say no to lending them money in return.

 

Redraw Your Mortgage

A redraw facility allows you to borrow money that you’ve already repaid on a mortgage. These companies typically offer variable interest rate loans. You might be able to take out a fairly large loan if you have been paying on your mortgage for a while. Moreover, this type of loan allows some flexibility with how you repay the loan.

The issue with redrawing your loan is that if you continue to borrow against the amount of money you have put toward your house, you won’t get closer to paying off your mortgage. In fact, you can actually get further away, considering the interest you will be accruing over time.

 

Take out a Car Title Loan

Another option when you need to pay for an emergency is to take out a car title loan. This is particularly useful for individuals who own their car outright but who do not enjoy a high credit score.

Car title loans are secured loans that are based on the value of your car and the equity you have in that car. Typically, car title loans range from around $200 to $2,000.

There are risks attached to using a car title loan to pay for an emergency, however. First off, car title loans have very high interest rates. Secondly, car title loans are secured loans that use your car as collateral. That means that if you fail to pay off your loan within the (often very short) repayment term, you run the risk of losing your car to repossession. However, if you believe this is your best option, here is a lender that provides car title loans.

 

Try to Stay Calm When You’re Faced with an Emergency

There are a number of options available to you if an unfortunate emergency should demand money that you simply do not have. The option that is best for you depends on the nature of the emergency, the cost of it, and your specific situation. Hopefully, the list here will help.

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Happy holidays!

Holidays mean big sales for small businesses. Consumers often spend a lot for holiday celebrations, as well as special foods and gifts. So take advantage of each holiday season as it comes around by setting up your small business for success.

There are multiple holidays that come around year after year. Think Christmas, Kwanzaa, and Hanukkah, just for starters. Then add in New Year’s Eve, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, and all the rest. Preparing your business for all of these happy holidays will allow you to attract more sales throughout each year.

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In the world of online business, plan for the holidays for your small business by staying active on social media. Use the platforms where your customers hang out to prepare your target audience for upcoming holidays. Inform them of new products and holiday deals you’re offering. Encourage them to share your products and services across their networks using Facebook share code.

Here are some other ways you can plan for the holidays:

 

1. Set Reminders

So that you never forget to plan for a holiday, make sure that every holiday has a reminder in your phone or elsewhere. Business schedules and operations can be quite busy even during quiet seasons. It can easy to let a holiday sneak up on you.

Therefore, give yourself reminders for each holiday so that you can plan seasonal content for each one. Early planning will help you to increase your profitability.

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2. Give Holiday Deals

Holiday deals are an excellent way of attracting more clients. For example, plan for Christmas sales, Black Friday events, Cyber Monday deals, and New Year promotions. Prepare your marketing campaigns early enough to make the most of each holiday season.

You will boost your sales significantly by reducing prices for your products and services during these special times. Moreover, you will be giving your customers happy holidays through these special deals. What’s more, you’ll enjoy some happy holidays yourself as a result.

 

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3. Reward Your Clients

Reward your clients by giving out promotional products as well as promo codes and coupons. Such deals will make your clients feel appreciated and will also boost your sales.

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Also consider free shipping or free deliveries to reward your clients. This is an excellent way to reward your clients during the festive season. It shows your clients they are valued.

 

4. Take Advantage of Promo or Sales Videos

Use videos to promote your products, your services, and your business. Videos allow you to harness the power of the Internet and maximize on what it has to offer, especially at the holidays. Today, with platforms such as Promo you can create your own marketing videos. You just add your message and logo to their already-edited and high-quality videos. Make a customized video, share it, and attract more clients.

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5. Stay Active

Plan for happy holidays by staying active on social media. Take time to answer client queries and address customers’ concerns. Above all, keep your pages active.

Remember, these are clients who love to make purchases from the comfort of their homes. Therefore, be sure to make on-time deliveries during the season. Moreover, encourage them to check out your pages for holiday deals.

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RELATED ARTICLE: SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING WILL HELP YOU TO HUMANIZE YOUR BRAND

 

6. Rely on Email Marketing

Email marketing may seem old-fashioned but it is one of the best and most effective marketing strategies. What’s more, it is sure to remain relevant for years to come. Therefore, send personal emails to your clients. In your messages, create stories that relate to your business. Additionally, remember to thank your clients for their continued loyalty and support. Most importantly, include a call to action.

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You can also include a coupon code in your emails. This will keep your clients interested in your business. Think promotion, festive content, and holiday campaign strategies.

 

7. Use Banners to Say Happy Holidays

Decorate your storefront using banners, and do the same on your website. Nothing says happy holidays more effectively than colorful decorations.

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For example, make use of Christmas trees, Valentine’s Day gift packages, and other holiday-related decorations to decorate your business premises. This will attract clients who will want to find out more about the types of products and services you provide.

 

Plan Ahead for Happy Holidays

In short, whatever the season, plan ahead for the next happy holidays and bring bright sales into your business.

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Working from home seems like an ideal luxury to most people—until you actually achieve it. The truth is, you might find yourself in a slump if you don’t use some of these productivity hacks to pick you up. Having the freedom to stay in your pj’s in the morning can get a little too comfortable. And this can be detrimental to your work habits.

About 1.5 million people now work remotely as an employee of an established organization. This flexible approach to out-of-office working is growing in popularity due to feedback from employees. As it turns out, they prefer to be let loose from the corporate environment.

However, is the traditional office that bad? Formality is sometimes necessary for people to differentiate between work and play. Further, it can help workers compartmentalize stress and emotion in these different aspects of our lives. Online entrepreneur Tim Kitchen says he still dresses in sharp attire when working from his home office for this reason.

 

RELATED ARTICLE: THE BEST DECOR TRENDS FOR YOUR HOME OFFICE IN 2018

 

Try Using a Standing Desk for Greater Productivity

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One of the major downsides to working from home—if you don’t keep up with a rigorous exercise routine—is a lack of physical activity. Your morning commute may have shifted from a train ride with a twenty-minute walk plus two sets of stairs to reach your desk. Now, you can start work within a couple of seconds from anywhere inside the house. For this reason, standing desks are an energizing alternative.

Moreover, health experts credit standing desks with various long-term health benefits. For example, you could reduce your risks of obesity and cancer. Nor does your standing desk have to be a state-of-the-art structure. Instead, you could even use a kitchen worktop. However, the change from sitting down all day is one of those productivity hacks that will transform your workday.

Of course, this won’t replace all physical activity. The recommended 10,000 steps-per-day rule still stands. However, standing at your desk will give you a helping hand. That’s because a 150-pound person can burn an average of 114 calories per hour just by standing.

 

Reduce Your Workload by Outsourcing Tasks

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For those who are self-employed, taking on too much work and the risk of burning out are real. Only by streamlining their workload by way of productivity hacks and other measures can they continue to enjoy their work-at-home lives.

Moreover, it’s not uncommon for self-employed individuals to feel under pressure and vulnerable. For example, the self-employed get none of the benefits that regular employees get, such as holiday leave and sick pay.

As a matter of fact, many self-employed people struggle to achieve a positive work-life balance. They often feel flooded with work. Moreover, they need to make sure they have enough savings to cover them in case of an emergency.

However, living in the digital era gives us opportunities to relieve this pressure. That is, we can outsource to specialists with ease. For example, sites like Upwork connect you with professionals in all fields. This gives you opportunities for multiple productivity hacks.

For instance, you could turn over your accounting or website development tasks to specialists. On the other hand, you might want to keep the tricky tasks to yourself to protect the quality of the work. In that case, you could outsource the basics to a virtual receptionist by using a virtual landline number.

 

Prioritize Creating a Clear Work Space

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When working at home, it’s rarely a good idea to work on the sofa or at a dining room table. It can demotivate people to work in a shared space. This is especially true if other family members are present enjoying social activities. Chief among productivity hacks is that you want to have a work space with no distractions. This is a great concentration booster and a powerful productivity hack.

Many articles offer an entire breakdown of how you can create the perfect home office. Above all, a home office should feel clear so that you can concentrate on the task at hand. In this digital age, you can use smart tools like Google Forms to eliminate the need for piles of paper. Plus, thereafter your information is stored away neatly in your laptop.

 

Stick to a Strict Schedule

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Finally, it might sound like it defeats the whole point of working for yourself, but sticking to a strict schedule helps keep your productivity levels in check. The most successful people in the world thrive on strict routines. As a matter of fact, more often than not those schedules start ridiculously early—sometimes as early as 4:30 am.

This isn’t just a coincidence. Moreover, it has been a school of thought for a while now. Top CEOs believe that we only have a finite number of decisions we can make per day. When we reach the limit, our quality of work and effective rationale go down the drain. Have you ever wondered why Steve Jobs religiously wore blue jeans and a black turtleneck? It was to avoid decision fatigue.

 

Jobs didn’t think his choice of clothing was a decision he should prioritize each day. Therefore, he skipped it by creating his own uniform. Many other successful people have followed this rule. For example, some include Mark Zuckerberg, Simon Cowell, Barack Obama, and Albert Einstein, to name a few. Stripping back your routine and getting down to the nitty gritty before sunrise could help you to reap the rewards of working from home.

 

About the Author

Rory Whelan is a communications expert with over twenty years’ experience in consultancy, television, media, and telecoms. Since 2012 he has held the role of marketing manager for eReceptionist, leading the product to become the favorite call management company for UK SMEs.

 

Building a good credit score is important both for you personally and for your business. That’s because a bad credit score can make it difficult for you to access products such as credit cards or loans when you need them.

Perhaps you’re thinking about taking out a loan to pay an unexpected expense. Or maybe you want to invest in a business idea that you believe could be profitable in the long run. Whatever your motivation, getting a loan might not be easy if you have a bad credit score.

However, there is no need to panic. For example, installment loans could help anyone with obtaining the money they need. Moreover, you’ll just need to go through a few easy steps to apply online. In this article, we discuss how you can go about improving your credit to improve your chances of hearing a positive answer when you apply for credit or a loan.

Understand What a Bad Credit Score Is

Your credit score is based on the information in your credit report. This information includes the amount of your debt as well as your payment history and your current financial status. Moreover, lenders use your credit score to determine how much they will loan you and the interest rate they will charge you. If you owe a lot of money to lots of lenders and your payment history is poor, your credit score will be poor.

 

RELATED ARTICLE: BUSINESSES NEED GOOD CREDIT TOO: 5 TIPS TO BUILD YOUR BUSINESS CREDIT

 

Pay Everything on Time

Pay all of your bills on time. Full stop.

Paying your bills on time is extremely important if you wish to improve your credit score. When you pay your bills on time, you show lenders that you can manage your finances well. Your payment history is one of the most important factors for rebuilding your credit.

 

Check for Mistakes in Your File

It is a good idea to check your credit report regularly. That’s because when you do, you can spot fraudulent activity or mistakes on your report in a timely manner.

It’s pretty easy to check your credit. As a matter of fact, you are entitled by law to one free credit report every year. Moreover, accessing your credit report is important. That’s because if you do find a mistake, you can report it to the credit reporting agencies and get it fixed.

Don’t Make Multiple Credit Applications

Avoid making multiple credit applications, as this can affect your credit score negatively. Mainly, it makes you appear to lenders to be desperate to borrow money at a time when you should be scaling back.

 

Reduce the Amount You Owe

One of the most important things you can do to improve your credit score is to reduce the amount of money you owe. Therefore, not only should you pay your bills on time, but you should also pay more than the minimum payment as often as you can. What’s more, whenever possible, pay off the full amount to each and every creditor. As you decrease the amount of money you owe, your credit score will rise.

Protect Your Credit Score

Once you have cleaned up your credit and achieved a higher credit score, protect your credit by maintaining the good habits you developed while you were working to improve your credit.

When entrepreneurs talk about how to increase innovation, often the conversation turns to the development of new products and services. While that is certainly one aspect of being a more innovative company, innovation also means finding new ways to be productive and efficient with the resources you have at your disposal. Research also shows that the most successful businesses are those that are able to effectively merge speed and quality. And the trait most commonly associated with this magic combination is innovation.

Unfortunately, innovation is also commonly confused with creativity. Creativity can help increase innovation, but the true definition of innovation is a new idea, method, or device. An innovation solves a problem and makes an improvement. With that in mind, it is possible to increase innovation within your company and uncover the methods and ideas that will improve your chances of success. Implement some of the following ideas to increase innovation in your business. Then see how your company can become more innovative than the competition.

 

RELATED ARTICLE: HOW TO IMPROVE EMPLOYEES’ MENTAL HEALTH (AND WHY YOU SHOULD CARE)

 

1. Create Opportunities for Innovation 

Companies often stagnate because team members don’t feel as if they have a voice. Or they don’t think they have a chance to try out new ideas or innovative ways of doing things. One of the most destructive sentences to any enterprise is, “We’ve always done it this way.” And when your people are afraid to rock the boat, innovation is going to suffer.

Overcome this tendency by creating opportunities for your teams to explore new perspectives and ideas. It might be as simple as including time in staff meetings to bounce around new ideas. Or it might even be disruptive. For example, you could implement job swaps, in which people shift responsibilities on a short- or long-term basis.

Because new perspectives and experiences can drive an increase in innovation, invest in your employees as well by fostering their development. This might mean sending them to seminars or retreats. Or you could support them in earning an online MBA. Make the expectation of innovation a part of your culture. Then give your employees the tools they need to succeed.

 

2. Implementing “Silent” Days

Imagine a day without any meetings, in which your co-workers agree not to email or message each other or engage in any kind of chit-chat. You’d probably be extra productive, no?

Companies that have tried implementing “silent days” once or twice a week have seen productivity increase by 60-90 percent. Even better, by having uninterrupted time to work, employees have more time to experiment and come up with better, more efficient ways to do things. They aren’t stuck in a rush and thus have more time to think.

Try implementing a silent day once a week. Or just experiment with a silent afternoon to start, and see how innovation improves.

 

3. Create a Diverse Team

Different perspectives bring different ideas. All too often, companies hire people with similar skills and backgrounds. Or they create such a strong a corporate culture that employees tend to engage in “group think” and never really come up with anything truly innovative. Make a point of hiring people from diverse backgrounds. Additionally, create cross-functional teams that bring different perspectives and influence to projects.

4. Develop a Process for Implementing New Ideas

Supporting innovation doesn’t mean trying every new idea just to see what sticks. That’s a waste of time and resources. At the same time, employees should be confident that their ideas will be considered and implemented quickly if they are workable.

Develop a process in which employees can submit their ideas for consideration and quickly receive acknowledgement and feedback.

You also need a process for implementing new ideas. Some employers ask employees to provide suggestions for implementation as part of the innovation process. These employers also have a plan for rolling it out.

However you decide to go about implementing new ideas, the process needs to be transparent and as expeditious as possible.

 

5. Reward and Motivate Employees

Reward and motivation is a key aspect of employee retention and maintaining productive and happy teams. It’s no different when you are trying to support innovation. Applaud the efforts of your team to uncover new ideas.

Moreover, recognize the achievements of employees who come up with ideas that move the organization toward its goals. Everyone likes to be acknowledged for their hard work. Therefore, don’t forget to include that in your efforts to support innovation.

 

Increase Innovation in Your Company by Giving It Space to Thrive

Becoming a more innovative business will not happen overnight. However, when you create an environment that supports and rewards new ideas, it will become a part of your company culture. And your business will reap the rewards.